Pitt County Man Facing More Charges In Arson Spree

There are more charges brought against a Pitt County man in a string of arson cases in two counties.

Beaufort County deputies have charged Albert Manning with two counts of felony burning of certain buildings.

Last week, Pitt County deputies charged the County Home Road man in connection with five fires in their county.

Manning is now charged with the December 27th fire at an abandoned home on Highway 102 near the Pitt County line. Then on March 10th the abandoned home next door to that one also burned.

Manning, who remains in the Pitt County jail, had his bond increased by $25,000 on the new charges.

The man told Pitt County deputies he set the fires to clean up his neighborhood.

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A Pitt County man is charged with a string of abandoned building fires that have happened over the past 14 months in two Eastern Carolina counties.

Albert Manning, who lives on County Home Road, is charged with five counts of burning of certain buildings and failure to registered as a sex offender in Pitt County. Deputies say the man is also a suspect in two other fires in Beaufort County.

Several of the fires happened not far from the man's home, according to a news release. Sheriff Neil Elks says Manning told them he was cleaning his neighborhood by setting the fires.

Deputies say Manning could be placed at several of the fires just moments before they were reported. After being picked up on the sex offender charge, deputies say Manning confessed to setting all seven fires when confronted with the evidence.

The addresses and dates of the Pitt County fires are: December, 2011 - 7853 County Home Road; December 27, 2012 - 5546 Leary Mills Road; December 28, 2012 - 7688 County Home Road; February 7, 2013 - 7943 County Home Road; and February 10, 2013 - 4818 NC 102 East.

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